Christians in Academia - June 1

Thank God for the many in the academic intellectual world who have systematically examined the evidence, decided

that the Bible and the claims of Jesus Christ are true, and have committed their lives to our great Creator God and Savior.

Campus Crusade has an active ministry to many thousands of college faculty members, serving in most top universities in America.

Several years ago, an article was carried in our ministry magazine, Worldwide Challenge, about a professor, whose name I will keep anonymous, who was able to effectively spread the love of Jesus in academic circles.

A student came to see her. The woman behind the desk at the university was young -- not yet 30 -- and she looked more like a student than a professor. As she invited in the student, who hesitated at her door, she leaned back and propped her feet up to settle in for a good talk.

Somehow she didn't fit the image of a woman who had entered college at 17, earned per Ph.D. in political science a few years later and was now working on another doctorate in psychology. In that time she had also spent two years

developing research for the Department of Health, Education and Welfare on university spending; she had begun writing a book; she had been appointed associate director of the Hinckley Institute of Politics in Salt Lake City; and she had spent three years teaching political science at the university.

Now, however, she was interested in the girl's problem. "What's on your mind?" she asked. "It's my term paper," the girl began, but in a few minutes the girl realized she faced a concerned listener and pushed the conversation beyond the term paper. "Actually, there's something else I sort of wanted to talk to you about..."

"What's that?"

"It's about what you said in class the other day -- about how we need to be honest with ourselves and say what we think. I want that, but how do I get the special power you talked about in order to be myself?"

"Do you really want to know?"

"Yes."

"It starts with a person -- the Lord Jesus Christ." The professor continued her witness.

A short time later, the girl with the impending term paper decided to accept Christ as her Savior, and she left the office considering her professor to be her very special friend.

Fortunately, there are thousands of professors who remember that over 100 of the first colleges and universities of America, such as Harvard, Princeton and Yale, were dedicated to our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Bible was the core curriculum.

Yours for fulfilling the Great Commission each year until our Lord returns,
Bill Bright

The late Dr. Bill Bright was Founder and President/Chairman Emeritus of Campus Crusade for Christ, an organization which began as a campus ministry in 1951 and now has more than 27,000 full-time staff and up to 500,000 trained volunteer staff in 196 countries in areas representing 99.6 percent of the world's population. In the past 50 years, Campus Crusade for Christ has seen approximately 6 billion exposures to the gospel worldwide. The film, "JESUS," which Bright conceived and funded through Campus Crusade for Christ, is the most widely translated and viewed film of any type ever produced. Since its use began in 1980, the film has been translated into 839 languages and viewed or listened to by over 5.7 billion people in 228 countries. Dr. Bright was also the author of more than fifty books. Visit campuscrusade.com for more details

Copyright (c) 2003, Bill Bright. All rights reserved. However, readers may copy and distribute this message as desired, without restrictions in number, as long as the content is not altered. Forwarding this e-mail to friends is encouraged. For many evangelistic and spiritual growth materials, visit the Campus Crusade for Christ Web site at ccci.org. See campuscrusade.com for Bill Bright's own materials.